Complete control over our personal heath data

How many of you have had problems getting access to your own health records? If insurance companies, employers, and the government can have access to your own records, why is it so difficult for you to gain access to your own records?

Well, Google is planning to put an end to this inefficiency (one of many) in our health care system.

Adam Bosworth, VP of engineering at Google, gave a speech at the 2007 American Medical Association of Informatics (AMIA) Spring Congress on Tuesday regarding a vision of what we all should expect from our health care system over the next decade (and we believe Google will be the key player in helping this vision become reality).

As Adam said:

This vision for the future of health care starts with the premise that consumers
should own their own total personal health and wellness data (I'll call it PHW
for short) and that only consumers, not insurers, not government, not employers,
and not even doctors, but only consumers, should have complete control over how
it is used. As an additional premise, we believe consumers should have the right
to all data that is about their personal health and wellness in electronic form.

And three principles that are core to the future of health care system are:

Discovery - Consumers should be able to discover the most relevant health information possible

Action - Consumers should have direct access to personalized services to help them get the best and most convenient possible health support

Community - Consumers should be able to learn from and educate those in similar health circumstances and from their health practitioners

It's about time consumers and their needs are put on the forefront in our health care system.

If anyone can realize this vision, Google can! We're with them!

Imagine a paperless health care world

The Washington Post had a terrific article "VA Takes the Lead in Paperless Care" earlier this week on the Department of Veterans Affairs health system -- one of the few and largest health system that is almost completely paperless. Every patient's record is computerized such that any VA hospital, clinic, nursing home, rehab center can see a patient's record (and the VA system is extensive -- "155 hospitals, 881 clinics, 135 nursing homes and 45 rehabilitation centers … With 5.3 million patients."

According to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS),"one-quarter of American physicians use some sort of electronic record-keeping in their practices. But less than 10 percent have systems that store all necessary data, allow electronic ordering of tests and provide clinical reminders. Only 5 percent of the country's 6,000 hospitals have computerized ordering of drugs and tests, and even fewer have a fully integrated system like the VA's."

Considering it is estimated that electronic records could potentially save American medical care $162 billion/year (and not to mention countless lives due to medical error), why don't more doctors and hospitals store patient's records electronically? Yes, the upfront investment can be steep -- ranging from a few million to upwards of 60 million; but perhaps the government can step in to reimburse such costs? In addition, according to this article, the software the VA uses which was developed over years by many people (including clinicians) is "free to anyone who wants to get it through the Freedom of Information Act." In fact, many versions are already in use (and not just in the US). So then, what's the excuse?

Perhaps health care needs a company like Google to jumpstart this and bring it to the forefront?

Update: Lost records found

The CD containing the unencrypted medical and personal information of approx 75,000 members of Wellpoint was found --- It had been delivered “by mistake to a resident in the Philadelphia area.”

This is utterly and completely ridiculous, especially considering the information was exchanged between two subcontractors without adequate security protection --- which is strictly prohibited by privacy laws.

As mentioned in yesterday's entry, a Magellan spokesperson stated the company would, in the future, transmit information electronically.

As you can see, sending information electronically is more secure than sending it the old-fashioned way --- via hard copies.